BuzzerBeater Forums

A bit late, but here is my "pre"view of the league before the road games.

BLUE SIDE

1. LV Clips: 382k
A team with only belgian players, all drafted by no other than Bull2213 himself! Because of this, he has 3 great players still being trained accompanied by 3 35yo vetereans.
By drafting and selling his HoF, Bull2213 will probably not make a financial loss this season despite keeping the full team he had in BBBL. His only loss comes from Union Liège and their next match-up will likely decide who is going to the finals.

2. Union Liège: 430k
The most expensive roster in our league and I think I speak for everyone when I say he had a surprise loss against Aubel Nation. MB13 has a relatively young team, which gives him more than 1 season to finally reach BBBL.
He did not buy any players to improve his team, so why is he a candidate this season? 3 HoF trainees, all ready to prove their worth. Unfortunately he still has an away game against LV Clips, which likely decides for HCA in the conference finals.

3. Aubel Nation: 310k
Veoz stared in season 42, which gives him less than 7 seasons of experience. However, his victory against Union Liège shows he's capable of more than you'd expect.
With 7 players being 32+, transfers are needed to reach BBBL in one of the coming seasons. "Coming" because I don't see Veoz going all the way with 2 major contenders in his conference.

4. Houdeng Donkeys: 298k
Nautelet seems to be having trouble managing his GS, with 2 out of his starting 5 with an inept (4) game shape. With only 9 players on his roster, this was unavoidable.
Having lost against all teams above him and won against all teams below, my assumption is that Nautelet will remain 4th.

5. The Golden Era: 296k
Warriorground, I apploud you. 5 belgian trainees for the Golden Generation Project, and still coaching our U21. By selling Degroote, he would weaken his team drastically, but I don't see it as a problem. With 7 out of the 9 highest salaried teams coming from the blue side, it could be that all relegation series are won by teams out of the big 8. So 5th or 6th gives the same end result. Even if relegation would happen, an extra season in division III with his trainees would give less stress. There's no need to get achievements now, it will happen in a few seasons.

6. Cavs nation: 240k
'Only' won 2 games, both at home. That's put in a whole other perspective when realizing jarnkleyn is 40k behind in salary to any other team on the blue side. With no players over 30, this is a classical div II team, no championships and likely no relegation. Being 2 games ahead of instant demotion, the Cavs appear here to stay. Especially when he's eliminated from the cup and game shapes improve.
With just 5 seasons of experience, not only will the team, but also the coaching keep improving.

7. suikerboys: 298k
Perhaps the most dissapointing ranking of all teams. The players are there, the experience dates back to season 3 (!), something somehow just doesn't *click*. With a PD of -75 despite being 1-6 shows the potential. A quick look at the results: losing by 7 against Houdeng, losing by 11 against Union and losing by 2 again LV Clips. alias sss' 2 purchases for this season haven't shown too much.
However, if I were a betting man and suikerboys finish 7th, I still wouldn't bet against them.

8. fredoteam: 279k
In every game, someone has to lose. Unfortunately for fredoteam, it was often him. Losing by 4 @ Aubel and losing by 2 @ Cavs puts things into perspective. Competitive, but just missing out. I don't see his team performing better when we go deeper into the season, with too many 35+yo players.
There is not enough good pieces to maintain a spot in div II for the coming seasons. His old players will worsen faster than his trainees will improve.

RED SIDE

1. Collège Saint-Louis Basket: 387k
By far the best team in the red side. Tom10 stand with head and shoulders atop others. With away games against LV Clips and Union, HCA in the finals is unlikely. He will end with the highest point differnce in the league, but the records on the blue side will be of more importance than his own.
His Pablo Pries is different than my Pablo Pries, I imagine. No transfers are needed, since his team is still young enough for 2 seasons of trying to reach BBBL.

2. BouffAssist: 299k
Marvinxl has a strong team ... for div II. As his game against CSLB shows, a loss at home and playing with higher attitude, yet losing by 19. An expensive transfer will probably get him to the conference finals, but in normal circumstances it will end there. With 2 34-35yo's in his starting 5, mavinxl will have to break the bank even more before being capable of reaching BBBL.
To put things into perspective, in the blue side, BouffAssist would probably be fighting for a spot in the POs.

3. Kriflonius: 245k
With training as my main goal, it comes as a surprise that I'm in 3rd. I came from div III with a mindset of just having a team slightly above the salary floor, not caring if I demote or not. Being up 3 games compared to 5th, it is likely I will not demote.
Also having a relatively good schedule with more than enough winnable home games gives me hope to complete training in div II for the foreseeing seasons

4. armstrongs: 279k
Almost an identical analysis as for Bouff. Solid team for div II. no women-* will have to show the best version of himself if he wishes 3rd place, with games on the road, which would be easily winnable if they were home.
POs are almost a certainty, but if relegation games are necesarry, his team is young and strong enough to stay in his warm and comfy spot in div II.

5. TheRainmakers: 210k
Believe it or not, but BigT is still 30k below the salary floor. Despite that, he still manages to be 5th and only lost by 3 @ armstrongs. With a young team and some future belgian stars, the future is looking bright for him to get back to BBBL.
POs this season will be difficult, maybe even impossible. Already behind 2 games, but a favourable schedule and an incoming transfer could do wonders.

6. ccf packers: 275k
Amazingly enough, this is the first time dicus made it into div II. With some high potential players, his team is far from what it is going to become. Out of all the 2-5 teams in the red side, I give him the least chance to get 5th. It is a huge adaptation going from games against mainly bots to having 2 or 3 competitive games per week.
His win against BC Brugge was important, but they are yet to play in Brugge, which leads to ccf finishing 7th, if it was up to me.

7. BC Brugge: 272k
The 3rd team with a 2-5 record. jelsev07 has a few strong players, but not enough to form a strong line-up. 1 transfer could change this, but then his bench is the next thing needing improvement. For this reason, I don't see BC Brugge finishing 7th, if a transfer is made and the winnable games are picked out correctly.

8. Moortgat Monsters: 79k
What's there to say? 160k below salary floor, full belgian/dutch team and some great prospects for the future. Mancunian has been rubberbanding between div II and div III for a few seasons now. He made some good bank selling his previous trainees, but that money is in a vault, ready to be used whenever deemed necessary.
Not a threat to anyone ... for now.

Very interesting, thanks for the good work

I agree with most of your statements, as I said a few weeks ago that the title contenders were CSL, Union Liège and LV Clips.
I'll just try to go as far as possible, acknowledging the fact that my team is far away from the BBBL level. It's not really an objective to be promoted in the short term, as I'm still training my two youngsters and they're nowhere close to being ready. In the meantime I'm just trying to do my best and to develop my infrastructure, in order to be able to stack cash later on and build a more competitive team when my trainees are ready. That's when the promotion will really become an objective.

Good work!

Damn! You got me.

If I can keep the 4th rank, I'll be happy.
But nothing is done. The way to the end of the season is still very long.

I had financial problems. So I had to sell Marcos Roberto Xavier and change my coach which cost me 82k.

I'm now waiting a bit to buy a 4th big man.

I'm training Brent De Meuter who has a good potential but too old to bring him NT.

Otherwise, keep yourself safe.

Wow... didn't notice you have also a Pablo Pries in your roster :o ! Please let me know when you sell him, I'll bid :D
Btw, great analysis but as I said, only objective is the cup... see my bad week in the league.

Wow... didn't notice you have also a Pablo Pries in your roster :o ! Please let me know when you sell him, I'll bid :D

Oh, we've got an achievement hunter here :)

It seems like you've made a good decision with the cup, yet again a more than doable game. I am however surprised you went for the game against Liège, I thought the home game against Aubel and the cup would have priority.

Indeed, it should have... but I had work to do and forgot to set my lineup... Now you know what is my default lineup :D And Aubel is the lucky man in this sh** ;) Moreover, I have now my two PF injured ! Really looking forward to better days with my team !

I am rooting for both teams still representing our lovely II.1 in the tournament.
Union will play against the strongest team of Belgium, unbeaten this season in B3.
CSLB will play against a slightly stronger team, but both still have a key player injured. There would be no chance if it was an "away" game, but because of home advantage, you never know.

Best of luck to both!

Warriorground wrote to me on December 22nd :

"And the 2nd place is definitely where you belong" (302267.16)

Result, I lost 7 games and finished rank 4.

Krifl wrote to all on March 23rd :

"...4. Houdeng Donkeys: 298k
Nautelet seems to be having trouble managing his GS, with 2 out of his starting 5 with an inept (4) game shape. With only 9 players on his roster, this was unavoidable.
Having lost against all teams above him and won against all teams below, my assumption is that Nautelet will remain 4th..."

(303495.15)

Result, I lost 5 games and I'm at rank 5 at this moment.

Please, stop predicting my final rank.

Each time, it's not good for my team.

Your players might start to float after the positive comments?
It's up to the coach to keep them on the ground with both feet!

:D :D XD

By the way, nice presentation. 5th or 6th spot is indeed my ambition. Tonight against you was quite a surprise for me. I had the GDP wrong and (thank God) I've played with higher enthusiasm. If you top scorer wasn't injured, I don't know if I've also won that game. But I really thought the game meant more to you O:)

As for the U21 (your mention in the presentation). Especially this season, it's nice to see our youngsters from the GGP evolving and developing. I'm quite a patriot in every way and I'm proud of this country. So far I'm really happy with the contribution I can give for our BB community.